Teacher Training in SSA - Field Reality

Training is one of the most important aspects which is either overlooked or over-emphasized in govt. departments. The latter is true for SSA. A lot of money goes into teacher training, a lot many people are involved, number of rooms are occupied and much time is spent in planning and implementation of the same. This process has a direct bearing on a major proportion of children who study in Government and Government aided schools. To speak the truth there are some very experienced resource persons who inspite of coming from the field and having a teaching experience of decades sit together and develop a very fine module, whose level is way higher than the solution to the issues in field. The reality of teachers and students in field has some of the very basic issues like basic subtractions problems, basic double digit multiplication, basic grammar skills, basic behavioral skills!! The focus must be on fixing the basic things rather than showing one's intellectual prowess in making a Phd thesis level of module.

There are many issues on field in implementing the training programme like trainee teachers coming awfully late and going back very early, chatting the time away, filling TA/DA forms, discussing Teacher Union demands etc. which completely mars the purpose of conducting training. These issues will be discussed in a later blog with sufficient evidence.

However, the question that one needs to ask is that are we filling the gap through these trainings? Or are we doing our 10-to-5 job by designing a gold chain where a small woodwork would do the job?

During my field visit to Adilabad district (5th-7th June, 2012) in Andhra Pradesh, I came across this block (mandal) level teacher training. I will soon put the subtitles in the video, but for the initial part one doesn't need subtitles, the quality of resource person says it all (apparently it turned out to be a gold plated chain!). The video below captures some of the points which need concrete answers:

ITDA Paderu and KR Puram Visit

As the schools are closed for summer vacations, the visit to ITDAs this time focused more on the sanitation issues, I wanted to check whether toilets in the ITDAs are being maintained during off season or not. Also, based on the school strength, whether enough number of toilets are there for the students or not. The report of the same would be shared with district and state level functionaries, so that corrective action is taken before schools open in June'12.

In ITDA Paderu (12-13th May) , I also checked the status of computer installations in KGBVs. Most of the KGBVs are undergoing construction work for the additional classrooms. The focus on sanitation is relatively low and running water is a major issue in most of the KGBVs.The observation is depicted through the photographs below:


ITDA KR Puram has no KGBVs, the focus of the visit was solely on toilets here. The good part about this ITDA is that it has running water in all the schools I visited. I also came across an absurd toilet construction in one of the schools. The ppt (link) and pics are attached :)

The good part about this job...

The ping pong balls

The district officials can also be termed as the ping pong balls, just like in table tennis, they can be called at any point of time to the State level Office for a game of data-data, sometimes even twice/thrice in a month! In an ideal world, they were  supposed to move in the field, implement schemes and report back issues to the State Office. It was the job of the State Office to plan and weed out inefficiency through this ideal reporting/feedback system but this rarely happened! Instead, it made them their bunnies, calling them at their whims and fancies. Now, the main job of ping pong balls is to remain in the district office, play with files and God only knows from where they get the data. Throughout the year, the cycle of monthly review meetings - > giving target - > collecting data - > reviewing some other target in the subsequent meeting!! - > collecting additional data goes on and on...

Learnings

An image I captured 2 years back

Calendar

Have added my official calendar on both my blog and facebook page :)

How to subtract

After giving a small question on subtraction to one of the kids, I asked him to do the same using wooden sticks. He took his time, and did it successfully :)

Incompetent Maths Teachers

In ITDA Sundipenta, Kotalcheru villagel, Atmakur mandal, I taught the Kgbv students how to do basic set theory. The maths teacher was incompetent (a common observation in tribal areas) so i had to intervene, but at the end of the class it was TOTALLY worth it! 

Similiarly, one more incompetent teacher in a different mandal from the same ITDA

Sundipenta Pics

The psychology of a govt. servant

From whatever little expereinces i have had in govt. system, many of my pre-conceived notions have changed--  if u give respect to a person, he will in turn respect u, if u care for him, he too will care for u and if u do him some favor, he will reciprocate at some level. But....none of this is true in case of a govt servant, specially the one equal or lower to a group 1 officer! Majority of them are in the system just to draw their salary at the end of every month! It doesnt matter to them what the vision of the programme (nregs, ssa,etc) is, neither r they interested in motivating their staff. Instead, they specialize in one thing and that is how to ATTEMPT to please their higher ups (attempt, cause intelligent officers know that it's a sham service they r doing!). Whenever i come across them, they will talk about their past achievements endlessly, for e.g "in 2003 when i was in district X, i suspended these many officials and i was very hardworking!" . The focus is on correcting grammatical mistakes, rather than a personal followup of the core issue! I tell myself, why the f&&k are we here now!!??, if they did or do their job sincerely there is no need for us in this system!

They are part of the system for so long that they r not ready to accept their mistakes but pointing mistakes or giving suggestions without going to the field! I have heard that after a certain age, the brain stops accepting change signals, in case of govt. officers every cent is true!

Then we can also talk about the attenders and drivers, u smile at them and the tea will stop coming, u sit with the driver in the front seat (to make him feel equal) and he will start giving excuses the next time u order him to take u out on an official visit!

But despite all these hurdles, i believe change is possible and in a rapid manner!

The reason for the above statement is because a few officers are willing to come and work even on sundays, officers who will listen to u even after office hours, who will go to the field based on ur field suggestions and work on it passionately and follow up at the same time, officers who will ensure that the vehicle is there even at 3 am in the night!

Issues and Suggestions / Solutions

These are our findings for the field visit along with probable suggestions / solutions to improve things on the ground, most of it has been approved and we will be sending letters in a couple of days after the review meeting on 29th October -- please click and add your comments....

ITDA Review

View more PowerPoint from Ashish Chandra

The Meeting

I will post the details of the internal meeting here....(02:32 am, 27th Oct )

As promised last night, here I am, updating the blog about what happened during the meeting. We met pri. sec around 5 pm in the evening and she asked us if we could come back and see her later as she had to go and meet the minister, we agreed. At the same time, I asked her if she could spare 20 mins of her time as each and every point of our report was important. She agreed!
When she came back, it was nearly 6:10 and we were ready to go point by point explaining the importance of each issue and how it was affecting the functioning of the ground staff. She listened to us patiently and agreed with a majority of our points and has asked to put them on file, as well as for further inputs during the review conference of Project Officers (SSA) on the 29th of this month. The best part about her that small issues like non payment of salaries (which according to us is a big issue) to contractual staff was well taken up by her and she was concerned as much as we were and this is why our respect for her has gone up by several notches.
In my next post, I will post the details of all the points which we raised and possible suggestions/solutions we proposed.

(Rapid) Change is possible

When we were in Srikakulam district and were on our way to Vizianagaram, we came across this fishermen locality, where a temporary KGBV (Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya) was running. We noticed that the back wall was missing and I took the photo giving strict instructions to our Asst AMO to make a temporary bamboo construction so that children do not fall accidentally.

Srikakulam - KGBV, Ranastalam (unconstructed)

The construction work happened overnight and now there is a permanent wall, development can be fast, provided the state machinery is fast!

Srikakulam - KGBV, Ranastalam (constructed)

He showed the above newly constructed wall pic during the review meeting at Vizag today. 

Paderu Visit

After reviewing PO (RVM), Vizianagaram and briefing Collector we decided to go ahead with our field visit to Paderu. AMO (PMRC, Paderu), came to recieve us and later we came to know that he was first called to Vizag, then at a junction near Vizag-Vizi border and finally here, I do not approve of such things. He travelled for nearly 7 hours just to receive us.
We left for Paderu around 630 in the evening and came across dense forest all around. I would like to see the same area during morning time! It's amazingly beautiful with hills all around it. After a long time, I have come across a dense forest. We also came to know that nearly 50% of the habitations are naxal affected.
On the way towards the ITDA, we came across an Ashram school, what made me took notice was the lights and the classes which were going on during the night time! It was the first school I came across in the tribal area which was functioning in the night. I decided to stop the car and inspect for quality check (the video for the same will be uploaded once I am back to Hyderabad)
The quality of the education was bad as usual, and as expected the teacher blamed the students and I showed him how students can learn something new instantaneously, provided the method is right. This blame game has to stop now. We have to get results with whatever resources we have. Train, monitor, follow up, train, ....thats the funda!

Breakfast Time

I believe this place will be our breakfast joint for the next 2 days

Parvathipuram, Vizianagaram District, Andhra Pradesh

Facebook Page - Tribal Education

As I will be mostly in the field updating things from my mobile, I have made a facebook page for the same - you can access my content by clicking Facebook - Tribal Education 

ITDA Parvathipuram

An Ashram school in ITDA Parvathipuram in Vizianagaram district

Picturesque Tribal School

Start of the Journey

While visiting the field in ITDA Seethampeta, Srikakulam district, I came across one of the most picturesque schools I have seen in my life. Posting the pics here....

The school can be seen from a distance

Trekking towards the School

With paddy fields all around

A view from inside the school building

The Field Visit

This video will serve as a base line for what I am going to embark upon. This is the present scenario of the kind of education we are imparting in the tribal areas of Andhra Pradesh, India.
The only way from here is up!

Intro

I wait, I wait for the right time at times and the right time for this blog has come today. I have been writing off and on for several years now, but, with this blog i hope i will finish, or rather start, a new dimension about myself and the basic purpose of my existence.

This blog will be about things i like, things i am passionate about, things i want to change and

things i am actively pursuing to make a change in our present system.

I am presently working with a government organisation in the field of tribal education and I believe, given the kind of education I had, this is the right profile for me. I have never felt this young in a long time. My last two jobs were also with government organisations but I felt stagnated after a point of time. I hope this will not be the case this time as the team in the present set up comprises of some excellent minds.

As part of my orientation, I am presently on a field visit to Rampachodavaram and have done extensive field work during the last 2 days.
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I visited this area with a clean slate i.e. I did not go to the schools keeping in mind what kind of schools they are, I just stopped the vehicle everytime i came across a school in that area. To classify now, and visit schools according to the categories I have been assigned would defeat my basic purpose of looking at things objectively. I wanted to see all kinds of schools and my focus was primarily on the quality of education. I visited 10 schools in 3 days (including Sunday) and asked simple mathematical questions to the students and to my surprise, i found out that a majority of them were not able to solve basic subtraction or multiplication questions. In some schools, class 3rd students were able to solve the questions unclear to 6th class students. The focus was on rote learning and memorisation. There is no focus on process of solving.